The Best Thing
by thekatthatbarks
Summary: Dean felt his heart clench at that and he rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean if it's love songs you want, I" – Castiel looked up to meet his eyes and Dean fought to keep his resolve – "I could show you some love songs."


For the most part, Castiel was the same as a human as he was an angel, but there were a few things that had _changed_ or maybe they just became more noticeable. For one, he was like a teenager with the way Dean had to wrestle him to get out of bed in the morning. Without him or Sam, Castiel would probably sleep in way past noon. Usually, Dean could coax him out a with steaming mug of coffee – _two sugars, no milk_ – and the promise of pancakes. He would grumble but eventually get out of his nest of blankets and follow Dean to the kitchen with bedhead hair that Dean's fingers itched to reach out and run through.

He'd gotten a bad sweet tooth to the disappointment of Sam, who had probably been hoping for someone to join his _rabbitfood_ team. Dean found it endearing and took it as a chance for him to try out that fancy oven they had in the bunker to bake him all kinds of pies and muffins. But sometimes, even he couldn't deal with how much sugar Cas seemed to be able to digest and cringed when Castiel _soaked_ his double chocolate pancakes with syrup.

But the thing that Dean felt threw him the most off was the _music_. In the late hours when there were no hunts and no apocalypses to fight, Dean could hear the soft rhythms of _fifties' swing music_ coming from one of the studies or Cas's room. At first, he had thought it was just Cas trying out different genres and seeing what he liked, but it'd been _months_ and it was all he played. From Frank Sinatra and Billie Holiday to Frankie Vallie and the Four Seasons.

Dean let his curiosity lead his feet to Cas's room one night once the music started to play. The door was cracked, and he knocked lightly on it before opening the door. "Hey, Cas."

Castiel looked up at him from his spot on the bed. They'd got him some of his own clothes once it became obvious he probably wasn't going to ever get his grace back. But Dean noticed, Castiel would still sometimes walk around in his old band tees. Right now, he had a worn AC/DC shirt on with his sweats. _At least there was that._

He had a crate in front of him filled with vinyl records that he was currently thumbing through, sleeves scattered across his bed and the floor. Dean had always assumed it was a radio playing an oldies station, but then he saw the vintage vinyl player playing in the corner of the room.

"Hello, Dean." Castiel gave him a small smile before going back to whatever he was doing.

Dean walked over to the bed and sat on the edge, glancing over all the sleeves. "What is all this?"

"I've found the Men of Letters had an extensive collection of vinyl records. I still haven't been able to go through all of them, though."

Dean looked around and then noticed a few more crates of records lined up against the wall. He couldn't help his small smile. Castiel seemed to have found something to keep himself preoccupied over the last few months and Dean couldn't fault him for that. He knew Castiel had a rough time _coping_ with being human and it wasn't like Dean was a shinning role model in healthy coping mechanisms. If he wanted to go ahead and organize the Men of Letters' music storage and it somehow helped keep his mind off more stressful things, then Dean wasn't going to tease him about it.

"I didn't know you liked this kind of music."

Castiel shrugged, sparing him a small smile as he dusted off the next record he pulled out. "I didn't either. But it's what's here and it's… nice. There's a lot of love songs from this era."

Dean felt his heart clench at that and he rubbed the back of his neck. "I mean if it's love songs you want, I" – Castiel looked up to meet his eyes and Dean fought to keep his resolve – "I could show you some love songs."

The corners of Castiel's mouth quirked and he raised an eyebrow. "You could?"

Dean cleared his throat and gestured with his hand towards all the records. "Yeah, this isn't the only genre to ever talk about love, man."

"I know that, Dean." Castiel rolled his eyes at him.

Dean got up from the bed, ignoring the skip in rhythm of his heart, and took a step towards the door. "I may not have a record player or anything fancy, but I can show you some songs on my laptop."

Castiel followed him out of the room and towards Dean's bedroom. Dean tried not to think too much about why Castiel would suddenly have an interest in love songs.

Castiel made himself comfortable on Dean's bed, laying back and listening to the music while Dean sat at his desk with his laptop. He showed him any song that he could think of from Joni Mitchell's _A Case of You_ to Led Zeppelin's _All My Love_. Castiel had a comment for every song and seemed to have a lot more knowledge about music than Dean ever would, some of the stuff he said going right over his head, but Dean happily listened to him talk. It was nice, having Cas in his room like this while he played him love songs. He tried to not be too much of a sap about it.

"I didn't realize you were such an expert on love songs, Dean," Castiel told him with a thoughtful look as the last song's notes played out. But there wasn't any teasing like he'd imagined there would be if the sentence had come from Sam.

Dean felt his face warm and he shrugged, keeping his eyes on the computer screen. "Everyone likes love songs."

Castiel hummed and Dean risked a glance over at him. He was looking at Dean warmly, completely relaxed in Dean's bed and in _Dean's_ shirt. It made Dean's chest ache with a selfish _want_ and he simply clicked on a Ray LaMontagne album to play before walking over to the bed and laying down beside Cas. Where Castiel's arm brushed his felt warm and he couldn't but lean more into him.

"Why the sudden interest in love songs, Cas?" Dean finally asked him.

Castiel tilted his head, his eyes focusing on something in the distance. "I wouldn't say it's a _sudden_ interest. I've always liked love songs, just never really had the time to enjoy them."

"Well, now that you do, I'll show you all the ones I know." Dean bumped his arm with his and Castiel looked at him with a soft smile.

They were quiet for a while, just contently listening to the music, and then, Castiel asked him, "Have you… ever been in love, Dean?"

Dean's heart skipped at the question and he avoided looking at Castiel – making him miss the blush in Castiel's cheeks – as he thought about how to answer. He eventually gave him a heavy, "Yes."

He saw Castiel nod out of the corner of his eye and there was a beat before he followed up with, "Then, when you listen to these songs, can you not help but feel like… someone else understands your feelings?"

Dean turned his head to Cas, wondering what had brought all this on. Usually, he ran away from these kind of conversations; shrugged off the questions or made a crude joke. But here in his room with the warmth of Cas next to him and soft music playing, he didn't feel like doing any of his running away.

"Yeah, I guess so."

Castiel still wasn't looking at him, but something in Dean's answer seemed to give him some peace and he leaned farther back into the pillows with a sigh, looking up at the ceiling. "That must be why everyone likes love songs. We're all just looking for someone to put into words how we feel."

Dean looked down at him, his heart squeezing when Castiel smiled back up at him almost shyly. With a small lick of courage, Dean reached out to hold Castiel's face in his hand as he leaned over him. " _We_ , Cas?"

There was a flash of surprise in Castiel's eyes, but it was quickly replaced with a loving look that made the insides of Dean twist. He leaned into Dean's touch, his hand coming up to twist into the front of Dean's shirt. He quoted the lyrics that were currently floating around the room with a soft smile, "You know, Dean, I think you are best thing that ever happened to me."

 _Maybe neither of them had ever good with words._ Dean laughed, letting Castiel pull him closer by his shirt. When their faces were just a few inches apart, Dean told him, "You're such a sap."

Castiel chuckled, his eyes flickering to Dean's lips. "Says the man who just spent his evening showing me all his favorite love songs."

Dean grumbled, "Yeah, yeah," before finally pressing his lips against Castiel's. Castiel kissed him back and it was so sweet and slow. Something that had been anticipated by them both and felt like something short of coming home.

 _It was the best damn kiss Dean had ever had._


End file.
